Peace must prevail

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The fate of humanity, that of the Earth itself, is at stake as Russia invades the Ukraine. We, the people, cannot stand by as diplomatic shortcomings and myopic vision puts life itself in peril. The costs are much, much too high. Even the sanctions we would impose upon Russia would be disastrous not only for Russia but for our and the world’s economy, and it would accelerate climate change. Intransigence would cost too much in lives and the wellbeing of the Earth.

One chief point of contention, as The Nation notes is that: "NATO expansion provided the context for this crisis—one too often ignored by our media. There is a rank irrationality and irresponsibility in offering future NATO membership to Ukraine—when, as successive US presidents and our NATO allies have demonstrated, they do not have the slightest intention of fighting to defend Ukraine. Instead, Putin’s demand, essentially that the status quo—i.e., Ukraine remaining outside of NATO—be codified, was scorned as violating NATO’s “principle” of admitting anyone it wanted." 

 Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is execrable by any measure but we must recall the Cuban Crisis of 1962 when we threatened invasion of Cuba because it hosted Russian nuclear missiles near our borders. The missiles were dismantled. We (U.S., NATO) cannot afford insisting upon nuclear missiles on Russia’s border if this incites a war that threatens the entire world. Far too much is at stake for a compromise that small. NUCLEAR WAR MUST NOT BE AN OPTION ON AN EARTH ALREADY IN DIRE PERIL.

 It is urgent that we call the White House directly at 202-456-1111 and leave a comment urging that President Biden use every diplomatic tool at his disposal to encourage Russia to end this aggression. Among those diplomatic tools is the assurance that Ukraine not be permitted to join NATO.

 In our calls we must make clear that diplomacy must ensure that Ukraine must be an independent nation but does not join NATO.

 As Sara Haghdoosti of Win Without War says, "It is clear that we — the pro-diplomacy, pro-peace majority — have to keep showing up, now and in the weeks and months ahead."

 We must not stand by, else we perish. 

         love of life must prevail

WORLD BEYOND WAR

Join a webinar on February 28th at 3 pm Honolulu, 5 pm Los Angeles, 7 pm Mexico City, 8 pm New York; March 1st at 9 am Beijing, 10 am Tokyo, 12 pm Sydney, 2 pm 

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Piscis

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                        Piscis

El par de peces nada
entre cristales de amatistas,
entre peñas de heliotropo —
        la luz de Júpiter les llega
            como un reflejo en estaño;
Neptuno perezosamente los vigila.
Si vadeas en las aguas inconstantes,
los verás a tus pies
nadar como imágenes de sueños,
            pacíficos,
                            benévolos.



                            © Rafael Jesús González 2022


                        

Pisces

The pair of fish swim
among amethyst crystals,
among boulders of bloodstone —
        the light of Jupiter comes to them
---            like reflections on tin;
Neptune lazily watches.
If you wade in the inconstant water,
you will see them at your feet
swimming like the images of dreams,
            peaceful,
                            kind.



                                © Rafael Jesús González 2022

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Full moon of the Tiger year 4719

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Full Moon of the Tiger Year 4719


Enlightenment comes
in play of shadow and light,
awful innocence.
In the forests of the night,
the tiger stalks the full moon.



-------------© Rafael Jesús González 2022

Luna del año del tigre 4719 


La iluminación viene
en un juego de sombra y de luz,
terrible inocencia.
En los bosques de la noche
el tigre caza a la luna plena.



-------------© Rafael Jesús González 2022

Ueno Jakugen
middle Edo period (18 century)

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Valentine

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No sería bien dejar pasar el único día del año reservado únicamente para la declaración de amor. Recibes esto hoy por, como escribí una vez, los lazos de sangre, los muchos años de amistad, o unos pocos, tal vez meses, semanas, días o solamente un breve encuentro compartido o aun solo por tu cara y tus bellas palabras “zumbadas” por ciberespacio. (¿Hace cuanto?) Tal vez ni siquiera recibas estas palabras (la dirección de e-mail que tengo para ti no sea la corriente; tal vez hayas muerto) o tal vez si recibes esto, no me recuerdes de nada. La lista ha crecido a través de los años, la memoria se esfuma. Tal vez el cariño que hubo entre nosotros se ha perdido por una larga ausencia, por el olvido, por un delito del corazón. O simplemente el tiempo lo atenúa, lo arrastra. Como la fe y la esperanza, cercanos familiares, se puede perder.

Estas palabras te pueden llegar como un salvavidas o tan delgaditas como hilo de telaraña. Pero porque el mundo está enfermo, la Tierra febril por falta de amor tenemos que tejer la red que nos salve. Este ‘te amo” hilado desde el corazón en el aislamiento impuesto por la pandemia te lleva bendiciones. 

Y también gracias por lo que haces para hacer nuestra revolución. El mundo está en riesgo porque nosotros, los humanos, no hemos aprendido a amar la vida, la Tierra, los unos a los otros. El nuestro debe ser un amor comprometido hecho carne por la acción. Nuestra revolución de corazón y mente tiene que ser informada por un amor feroz. Es el amor en que se arraigan la fe y la esperanza. Hagamos nuestra revolución con tanta alegría como podamos ante los estragos del cambio climático, la crueldad del fascismo. Nuestro amor tiene que ser un sanar. Debido a que la enfermedad es tan profunda y tan grave, tiene que ser un sanar radical. Nos salvaremos sólo si prevalece el amor. 

Como regalo de San Valentín te envío no chocolates en caja con volantes ni un ramo de rosas sino una colección de notas de amor, un ramo de palabras, de cantos.

Rafael Jesús González

It would not do to let by the one day of the year set aside solely for the declaration of love. You receive this today because of, as I once wrote, the bonds of blood, the many years of friendship, or a few, perhaps months, weeks, days, or only a brief meeting shared, or even only because of your face and your beautiful words zoomed through cyberspace. (How long ago?) Perhaps you do not even receive these words (the e-mail address I have for you may not be current; perhaps you have died) or perhaps if you receive this, you do not remember me at all. The list has grown through the years, memory fades. Perhaps what love there was between us is lost because of long absence, forgetfulness, a transgression of the heart. Or simply time attenuates it, fades it, washes it away. Like faith and hope, to which it is close kin, it can be lost.

These words may come to you as a life-line, or only as thin as a thread in a spider’s web. But because the world is ill, the Earth feverish for lack of love, we must weave the net that may save us. This “I love you” spun from the heart in the isolation imposed by the pandemic carries you blessings. 

And also thanks for what you do to make our revolution. The world is at risk because we, humanity, have not learned to love life, the Earth, each other. Ours must be an engaged love given flesh by action. Our revolution of heart and mind must be informed by a fierce love. It is in love that faith and hope are rooted. Let us make our revolution with as much joy as we are able in the face of the pandemic, the ravages of climate change, the cruelty of facism. Our love must be a healing. Because the illness goes so deeply and is so grave, it must be a radical healing. We will be saved only if love prevails.

As Valentine gift, I send you not chocolates in a filly box, nor a bouquet of roses, but a collection of love letters, a bouquet of words, of songs.

Rafael Jesús González

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Year of the Tiger 4719

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Kiuho Toyei (19th century)

 

 Tanka for the Year of the Tiger 

 The tiger, holy to the Lord of Destruction, 

snarling and raging roams the forests, 

the image of light captive behind bars.

© Rafael Jesús González 2022

 

Tanka para el año del tigre 4708 

 El tigre, bendito al Señor de la Destrucción, 

gruñendo y enfurecido vaga por las selvas, 

la imagen de la luz cautiva tras rejas.

© Rafael Jesús González 2022

Kano Tan'yu (1602-1674) -

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Code Pink Valentine reading Feb. 14

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Love for the World, Love for CODEPINK

On Valentine's Day, we will be treated to an evening of poetry and testimony to inspire us to Love, Rise and Resist!

We will invite people to post Valentine's Day messages to drone warfare resister Daniel Hale and Julian Assange in the chat. Then CODEPINK will send the messages to them in prison.

Zoom webinar Feb. 14th from 5-6:30 pm PST

RSVP for the Zoom link!

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MC: Jodie Evans, CODEPINK Co-founder and Cynthia Papermaster, CODEPINK Golden Gate Coordinator

With Joanna Macy, Anita Barrows, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Rafael Jesús González, Kelly Curry, Susan Griffin, Jennifer Hasegawa, and Dennis J. Bernstein.

Joanna Macy is a writer, with fourteen published books, including translations, with Anita Barrows, of Rilke's poetry, an eco-philosopher, environmental activist and a Buddhist teacher. In all her work, she draws on her wild love for the world. 

Anita Barrows is a poet and novelist.  She is a clinical psychologist who specializes in work with children and adolescents and a tenured professor of psychology at The Wright Institute, Berkeley.  Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy have done four published translations of the poetry and letters of Rainer Maria Rilke. 

Nora Barrows-Friedman is an associate editor of The Electronic Intifada and co-hosts both The Electronic Intifada Podcast and The Brief Podcast. From 2003-2010, she was the Senior Producer and co-host of Flashpoints. She has played cello since she was 11 years old.

Rafael Jesús González is Prof. Emeritus of literature and creative writing, and Poet Laureate of Berkeley. He was born and raised biculturally/bilingually in El Paso, Texas/Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, and taught at University of Oregon, Western State College of Colorado, Central Washington State University, University of Texas El Paso, and Laney College, Oakland, California where he founded the Dept. of Mexican & Latin-American Studies Dept. 

Meet Kelly, an author, publisher, relationship-builder and social justice activist who has been working as CODEPINK's Local Peace Economy Organizer for over two years. Kelly is known for her love of writing, storytelling and sharing healthy, living foods to create powerful, on the ground shifts of consciousness and build community globally. She does this work with The Electric Smoothie Lab Apothecary aka TESLA, which she founded.

Susan Griffin is a critically acclaimed feminist poet, essayist, lecturer, playwright, and filmmaker. She is author of more than twenty books, including The Eros of Everyday Life and A Chorus of Stones. The Utne Reader named her one of the “100 Visionaries Who Could Change Your Life.”

Jennifer Hasegawa is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet who has sold funeral insurance door-to-door and had her suitcase stolen from a plastic surgery clinic in Paraguay. The manuscript for her book of poetry, La Chica’s Field Guide to Banzai Living, won the Joseph Henry Jackson Literary Award and the book was longlisted for The Believer Book Award in Poetry. She was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaiʻi and lives in San Francisco. 

Dennis J Bernstein is the host & Executive producer of Flashpoints on KPFA & Pacifica. Dennis is also an award-winning poet, most recently the author of Five Oceans in a Teaspoon with visualizations by Warren Lehrer; Five oceans won the 2020 IPPY Gold Medal Award for Poetry and the 2020 Best Book Award for Poetry by the American Bookfest. Bernstein also received the 2015 Pillar Award in Broadcast Journalism for his work as a front-line journalist whistleblower.

 WHEN

February 14, 2022 at 5:00pm - 6:30pm (PST)

 WHERE

Zoom

 CONTACT

Cynthia Papermaster · cynthia_papermaster@yahoo.com

 

RSVP for the Zoom link!

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Minnijean Brown-Trickey: Living the Nonviolence Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Tuesday, Jan. 25

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The USF Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice

Minnijean Brown-Trickey: Living the Nonviolence Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 25  1 – 2 p.m. 

Online – Zoom 

REGISTER NOW

Minnijean Brown-Trickey has practiced nonviolence as a dedicated strategy of racial justice and social change -- and as a way of life -- since she was a young student in Little Rock, Arkansas. Please join us for this special dialogue with USF President Fr. Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J., USF Adjunct Professor Andrea McEvoy Spero, an educator and activist who develops curriculum and trainings for teachers engaging youth in the historical and current contexts of race, gender and human rights; USF undergraduate student Metyia Phillips '23, a recent member of the USF McCarthy Fellows in Sacramento Program; and Rafael Jesús González, retired professor, social activist, Poet Laureate of Berkeley, California

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More about Minnijean Brown-Trickey

In September 1957, with the help of Daisy Bates, a prominent civil rights activist in Central Arkansas, Minnijean Brown set out to integrate Little Rock Central High School alongside eight other African American students. After they were assaulted by vicious mobs, and blocked from entering the school by the Arkansas National Guard called in by Governor Orval Faubus, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent 1,200 U.S. paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division to escort the “Little Rock Nine” to the school’s front door – desegregating Central High.

Although all of the Nine experienced verbal and physical harassment during their year at Central, Brown was first suspended, and then expelled for retaliating against the daily torment. She moved to New York and lived with Drs. Kenneth B. And Mamie Clark, the African American psychologists whose social science findings played a critical role in the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case.

In the intervening years, until the present day, Minnijean Brown-Trickey has not ceased to fight for social justice through the principles and methods of nonviolence. We are honored to have her visit our USF community in an intergenerational dialogue to discuss the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with Fr. Paul Fitzgerald, Dr. Andrea Spero and USF student Metyia Phillips.With Rafael Jesús González, Poet Laureate of Berkeley.

Minnijean Brown-Trickey & Rafael Jesús González

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